What better to do during a stormy day in southern Sweden than buying some tarp, duct tape and bamboo sticks to build a kite. After a few minutes of looking at instructions online we decided to go for an improvised two line delta kite. It had a wing span of 2.6m (8.5ft) and was surprisingly easy to fly and steer, although it didn't seem to want to do loops for us. Below is the result.
Captain Tommy at the flight controls
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Climbing Mount Rainer
Mount Rainer is the highest volcano (14,411 feet or 4,392 m) and the most heavily glaciated peak in the contiguous United States. Despite being more than a 2 hour drive from Seattle, its presence dominates the area.
The Mount Rainer National Park is a common destination for outdoor loving Seattleites that come for camping, hiking, biking, skiing, climbing or just to practice the good old American tradition of shooting road signs.
This year a couple of friends and I decided to try to climb the mountain, and I hope to share some of that experience in this post. Though we were in decent general shape and were hiking in the Cascades more or less every weekend, neither of us had any experience from glacier traversal or climbing so we signed up for RMIs 4 day summit climb. In retrospect, going with a guide service was definitely the right choice - we didn't have the skills or experience to safely climb the mountain ourselves.
A four day climb may not sound like a big time commitment, but add to that hours spent gearing up at REI and many weekends of training hikes and you've got a decent size project. The four days with RMI were spent as follows:
Day one. Drove the two hours from Seattle to Ashford, a small town at the base of Rainer. We checked in and did a quick intro and gear check. This was a very short day, so we had pizza and explored the surroundings afterwards.
Day two. Traveled by bus up to the Paradise parking lot, which is a common starting point for all kinds of people, ranging from flip flop wearing tourists experiencing snow for the first time to some very accomplished mountaineers. From Paradise we hiked up half an hour and practiced basic skills like self-arrest, rest-stepping and walking in a rope team. This was useful and fun. We headed back to Ashford in the early afternoon with plenty of day light left - would have liked to stay longer and learn more, for example the basics of crevasse rescue.
Day three. Hiking to Camp Muir.
Day four. Climbing to the summit, back to Camp Muir and down to the Paradise parking lot. Meet up in Ashford and drive home.
GPS trace from our climb.
The Good
- Great guides. Experienced and professional!
- Great climb! Very good experience, perfect weather.
The Bad
- First day. Too short. Could have combined with second day.
- Second day. Also too short. Option to stay longer and learn more would have been good.
Tips
- Book early. Call the day RMI starts taking bookings for the season.
- Keep cost down. Guiding and pack list can easily add up to $5000. Borrow equipment from friends or buy second hand.
- Know your equipment before the climb, especially your boots.
- Be in good shape so you can enjoy it. This was harder than I thought it would be.
- Bring 2 friends! Rope team with 1 guide and us three friends was a lot of fun!
The Mount Rainer National Park is a common destination for outdoor loving Seattleites that come for camping, hiking, biking, skiing, climbing or just to practice the good old American tradition of shooting road signs.
This year a couple of friends and I decided to try to climb the mountain, and I hope to share some of that experience in this post. Though we were in decent general shape and were hiking in the Cascades more or less every weekend, neither of us had any experience from glacier traversal or climbing so we signed up for RMIs 4 day summit climb. In retrospect, going with a guide service was definitely the right choice - we didn't have the skills or experience to safely climb the mountain ourselves.
A four day climb may not sound like a big time commitment, but add to that hours spent gearing up at REI and many weekends of training hikes and you've got a decent size project. The four days with RMI were spent as follows:
Day one. Drove the two hours from Seattle to Ashford, a small town at the base of Rainer. We checked in and did a quick intro and gear check. This was a very short day, so we had pizza and explored the surroundings afterwards.
Day two. Traveled by bus up to the Paradise parking lot, which is a common starting point for all kinds of people, ranging from flip flop wearing tourists experiencing snow for the first time to some very accomplished mountaineers. From Paradise we hiked up half an hour and practiced basic skills like self-arrest, rest-stepping and walking in a rope team. This was useful and fun. We headed back to Ashford in the early afternoon with plenty of day light left - would have liked to stay longer and learn more, for example the basics of crevasse rescue.
Day three. Hiking to Camp Muir.
Day four. Climbing to the summit, back to Camp Muir and down to the Paradise parking lot. Meet up in Ashford and drive home.
GPS trace from our climb.The Good
- Great guides. Experienced and professional!
- Great climb! Very good experience, perfect weather.
The Bad
- First day. Too short. Could have combined with second day.
- Second day. Also too short. Option to stay longer and learn more would have been good.
Tips
- Book early. Call the day RMI starts taking bookings for the season.
- Keep cost down. Guiding and pack list can easily add up to $5000. Borrow equipment from friends or buy second hand.
- Know your equipment before the climb, especially your boots.
- Be in good shape so you can enjoy it. This was harder than I thought it would be.
- Bring 2 friends! Rope team with 1 guide and us three friends was a lot of fun!
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Hello, Mobile World
I've released my first Android application, by accident!
It all begun last weekend when I was hiking up Mt Defiance. I brought my Android G1 device to play with the awesome My Tracks application, and also used it to take some photos.
The G1 camera takes decent pictures (except it doesn't filter UV light well). Unfortunately, getting the photos off your phone and into your web album is not as easy as it should be - you either need to upload through to a computer, or go through a slow UI flow uploading the pictures one by one from the camera app.
Hopefully, the camera app will updated soon to do this better. But I started thinking about short term improvements half ways into the hike. How hard can it be? Playing with the Android platform could be fun... What if I just..? By the time I got back to the car I had convinced myself to write and Android app, and that night I did.
Turns out it's not hard at all. Setting up the development environment and getting a basic app running in the emulator took less than an hour - impressive! Learning about the programing model and limitations of the framework took a little longer. I was disappointed to find out that the built in email api only allows for one attachment per email, but decided to just make the best of it since I didn't want to spend time on a work-around.
After testing the app a little yesterday evening, I decided to see what the publication process is like so I signed up for the Android Market. After spending a hours trying to properly sign, upload and test the app I clicked 'unpublish' for the last time and gave up and went to sleep. It was just one of those nights where things kept going wrong and nothing was going to get done.
Today, this appeared in my inbox:
"Hey I downloaded your photo uploader software. Was just wondering if u guys are planning to make it possible to browse the pics u wanna send . The app is pretty sweet though fellas, good job."
Huh, what's going on?! I go to the market, and there it is. Published, working, and installed by 100 people! With no recollection of how this happened, I'm happy to see the app being used. Weird things happen when staying up too late :)
The app is called Photo Mail Uploader and is available for free in the Market and described as follows:
Crude application that provides a basic streamlined UI for sending new camera photos as emails.
Due to limitations in the Android platform, you still can only send one photo at a time, but it's faster than using built-in camera app.
Useful for sending multiple photos to a friend or to your Picasa email upload drop box.
Looking forward to feedback and hope people will find it as useful as I do!
2009-07-23 update: The app now has "1000-5000" downloads. http://www.nd.com.cn (en) wrote to say they might translate it to Chinese.
---
Note: The project is hosted on http://code.google.com/p/photomailer/, including source code (license) and bug tracker. If you'd like more features, build them!
It all begun last weekend when I was hiking up Mt Defiance. I brought my Android G1 device to play with the awesome My Tracks application, and also used it to take some photos.
The G1 camera takes decent pictures (except it doesn't filter UV light well). Unfortunately, getting the photos off your phone and into your web album is not as easy as it should be - you either need to upload through to a computer, or go through a slow UI flow uploading the pictures one by one from the camera app.
Hopefully, the camera app will updated soon to do this better. But I started thinking about short term improvements half ways into the hike. How hard can it be? Playing with the Android platform could be fun... What if I just..? By the time I got back to the car I had convinced myself to write and Android app, and that night I did.
Turns out it's not hard at all. Setting up the development environment and getting a basic app running in the emulator took less than an hour - impressive! Learning about the programing model and limitations of the framework took a little longer. I was disappointed to find out that the built in email api only allows for one attachment per email, but decided to just make the best of it since I didn't want to spend time on a work-around.
After testing the app a little yesterday evening, I decided to see what the publication process is like so I signed up for the Android Market. After spending a hours trying to properly sign, upload and test the app I clicked 'unpublish' for the last time and gave up and went to sleep. It was just one of those nights where things kept going wrong and nothing was going to get done.
Today, this appeared in my inbox:
"Hey I downloaded your photo uploader software. Was just wondering if u guys are planning to make it possible to browse the pics u wanna send . The app is pretty sweet though fellas, good job."
Huh, what's going on?! I go to the market, and there it is. Published, working, and installed by 100 people! With no recollection of how this happened, I'm happy to see the app being used. Weird things happen when staying up too late :)
The app is called Photo Mail Uploader and is available for free in the Market and described as follows:
Crude application that provides a basic streamlined UI for sending new camera photos as emails.
Due to limitations in the Android platform, you still can only send one photo at a time, but it's faster than using built-in camera app.
Useful for sending multiple photos to a friend or to your Picasa email upload drop box.
Looking forward to feedback and hope people will find it as useful as I do!
2009-07-23 update: The app now has "1000-5000" downloads. http://www.nd.com.cn (en) wrote to say they might translate it to Chinese.
---
Note: The project is hosted on http://code.google.com/p/photomailer/, including source code (license) and bug tracker. If you'd like more features, build them!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Camp Muir Hike
Playing some more with the browser plug-in for Google Earth. Below is a GPS trace that shows a hike I did today from Paradise to Camp Muir on Mt Rainer. The trace ends half on our way back because the GPS device I was using (Android phone) ran out of batteries. Too bad - glissading conditions were good, and I was hoping to find out my top speed going down the mountain.
(Raw kml file download as alternative for those with Google Earth)
(Raw kml file download as alternative for those with Google Earth)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
McClellan Butte Hike
Last weekend, I tried this popular trail just off the I-90. There were still lots of snow, and we lost trail pretty quickly. Below is a (partial) track recorded with an Android phone showing the not so good way we took:
(Requires Google Earth plugin, or download kml file and view in Earth)
(Requires Google Earth plugin, or download kml file and view in Earth)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Sipadan Diving Permits
Sipadan is considered one of the worlds best dive sites (videos), made famous when diving celebrity Jacques Cousteau called it "an untouched piece of art" in 1989. It's a small island in the Malaysian province Sabah on north east coast of Borneo.
While on vacation in Borneo (pics) last week (April 2009), I spent a couple of days in the area but unfortunately did not get to dive at Sipadan because I did not get the required diving permit.
Finding information about the diving permits is a bit tricky and it is sometimes conflicting. I asked around among the staff at the Sipadan-Mabul Resort ("smart"), and though their responses were also not coherent, I'll share my experience and what I learned so far in hope that the information will benefit others.
In 2004, the Malaysian government ordered all on-site Sipadan resort operators to move their structures off the island to protect it's echo system. They also added the permit requirement for visiting Sipadan (diving or snorkeling), and there's a daily quota of 120 permits which is far less than the demand.
Permits are allocated by the local authorities using an unknown criteria. Most of the staff said that it's some form of queue, and that it's very important to apply for the permit far in advance. There are 12 resorts that can apply for permits and they should do so when you book (pay), so book in good time and make sure to give all information needed to apply for a permit.
But booking early does not guarantee permits. Those who book early and stay for 5-10 days at the resort days seemed to get about 2 or 3 days at Sipadan. For those staying only two nights, getting a Sipadan permit sounded unlikely in general.
A particularly frustrating part of this is that you wont know ahead of time whether you'll get the permit. The resort staff said they need to call the government every day to get a list of the next days permits. Luckily there's great muck diving around Mabul and Kapalai for days when you can't get a Sipadan permit.
So when do you need to book? We booked 2-3 weeks in advance and the on-site dive masters almost laughed when I asked for my chances for a Sipidan permit (although text in the booking confirmation indicated that one could expect diving at Sipadan). Common advice seemed to be booking at least 1-2 months in advance. Most dive-only tourist I talked to had booked 3-6 months before their trip.
That's my permit experience from the Sipadan-Mabul Resort, but I would recommend also looking at other resorts (good info here). I'd probably pick a different one next time as I didn't like the how the dives were organized with multiple intro dives, revisiting the same sites, and very large groups.
Nov 2009 Update: Someone with insight into this business tells me each guide service has a permit quota and that they pick who goes. Knowing the right people at the resorts allows you to dive Sipadan all days. For those who don't, the setup is a bit of a scam. The same person also tells me that the "conservation" efforts on the island is a disgrace - that island is now full of military personnel and remaining structures are falling apart.
While on vacation in Borneo (pics) last week (April 2009), I spent a couple of days in the area but unfortunately did not get to dive at Sipadan because I did not get the required diving permit.
Finding information about the diving permits is a bit tricky and it is sometimes conflicting. I asked around among the staff at the Sipadan-Mabul Resort ("smart"), and though their responses were also not coherent, I'll share my experience and what I learned so far in hope that the information will benefit others.
In 2004, the Malaysian government ordered all on-site Sipadan resort operators to move their structures off the island to protect it's echo system. They also added the permit requirement for visiting Sipadan (diving or snorkeling), and there's a daily quota of 120 permits which is far less than the demand.
Permits are allocated by the local authorities using an unknown criteria. Most of the staff said that it's some form of queue, and that it's very important to apply for the permit far in advance. There are 12 resorts that can apply for permits and they should do so when you book (pay), so book in good time and make sure to give all information needed to apply for a permit.
But booking early does not guarantee permits. Those who book early and stay for 5-10 days at the resort days seemed to get about 2 or 3 days at Sipadan. For those staying only two nights, getting a Sipadan permit sounded unlikely in general.
A particularly frustrating part of this is that you wont know ahead of time whether you'll get the permit. The resort staff said they need to call the government every day to get a list of the next days permits. Luckily there's great muck diving around Mabul and Kapalai for days when you can't get a Sipadan permit.
So when do you need to book? We booked 2-3 weeks in advance and the on-site dive masters almost laughed when I asked for my chances for a Sipidan permit (although text in the booking confirmation indicated that one could expect diving at Sipadan). Common advice seemed to be booking at least 1-2 months in advance. Most dive-only tourist I talked to had booked 3-6 months before their trip.
That's my permit experience from the Sipadan-Mabul Resort, but I would recommend also looking at other resorts (good info here). I'd probably pick a different one next time as I didn't like the how the dives were organized with multiple intro dives, revisiting the same sites, and very large groups.
Nov 2009 Update: Someone with insight into this business tells me each guide service has a permit quota and that they pick who goes. Knowing the right people at the resorts allows you to dive Sipadan all days. For those who don't, the setup is a bit of a scam. The same person also tells me that the "conservation" efforts on the island is a disgrace - that island is now full of military personnel and remaining structures are falling apart.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
SMS in Gmail, for real!
Yay! Today we rolled out a really neat feature in Gmail Labs: SMS. And this time it's here to stay! Read all about it in Leo's post on the Gmail Blog.
One important thing to note is that standard text message fees apply for the mobile phone user, so don't get too carried away :) If you'd like to learn how to get the most out of your SMS $$$, or if you simply want to help the environment a little, talk to the IM tutor:
Tip: tutor can also hlp U wth rvrse trnsltn (IM -> En), in cse U've frnds tht insst on sendng incmprhnsble shrtnd msgs.
Yay! Today we rolled out a really neat feature in Gmail Labs: SMS. And this time it's here to stay! Read all about it in Leo's post on the Gmail Blog.
One important thing to note is that standard text message fees apply for the mobile phone user, so don't get too carried away :) If you'd like to learn how to get the most out of your SMS $$$, or if you simply want to help the environment a little, talk to the IM tutor:
Tip: tutor can also hlp U wth rvrse trnsltn (IM -> En), in cse U've frnds tht insst on sendng incmprhnsble shrtnd msgs.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Man this place has been quiet for a while. In the mean time lots of stuff has happened. Obama got elected and my neighborhood's celebration (photos) made national news. My new neighbor got into the spot light and is the talk of the town. We released the awesome video feature in Gmail and a few other things. I spent a week relaxing in Belize and got to dive in the famous Blue Hole.
Now Christmas is approaching real fast, so this weekend I started polishing my Glogg recipe and picked up a Christmas tree from Ikea, that exploded in my living room when I removed the wrapping!
Saturday, August 09, 2008
RAMROD 2008
Last week, I finally rode RAMROD (course information). It was a great ride and the most fun one so far this summer. Below are some pictures I took with my iPhone (should have brought a camera!) and a short description of the race I wrote for some interested friends.
(Also, an Eatonville photo by Jon Brunk can be found here)
Drove down the evening before and had a good nights sleep before
starting at 5am. Little chilly the first couple of hours before the
sun got up and the incline started. First 60mi was just cruising with
a couple of quick stops. After that came the first climb to Paradise
which was great. The sun had come up and the weather was beautiful!
I took it real easy when climbing since it was my first time. Lots of
lowest gear and lots of beautiful scenery. It was a good workout but
still felt pretty strong when reaching the top. The decline from there
was the best part of the ride, very open and scenic, and very fast. It
wasn't very crowded at this point which was good. After that another
quick food stop, small climb up a ridge, down again and shortly after
got to the second climb. Didn't have as much energy this time and
there was some construction along the road. Kept biting of mile after
mile, but started cramping a little and had to stop for a stretch and
a cliffbar. This was the toughest part of the ride. Once I got back on
I turned a couple of corners and discovered that I had stopped less
than a mile from the top. The sharp decline from there was again
really fast and less curvy than the first decline. The fastest 8 miles
ever for me before the next food stop appeared with sandwiches and
soda. Everyone seemed to consider the race over when reaching the
second peak, and most people were just relaxing in the sun and
enjoying the food so I decided to take my time here and enjoy it. The
final 30 miles were a gradual decline with significant head-wind so I
joined forces with one guy early on and then picked up more and more
people until we were a pace line of about 15 people. This part was
pretty fun and fast, no need to save the energy anymore. The last few
miles we split up, half the gang going faster and half slower than I
wanted. I was feeling quite tired at this point so I started drafting
behind a man going just slightly faster than myself. He was
participant #2, and I couldn't help asking how he got such a low
number. Turns out they are assigned in declining age order. The guys
was 73, doing the race for the second time. At that point I felt
pretty bad about having him do all the hard work so I pulled him in
the last couple of miles. Finished ~4.40pm feeling pretty good so I
changed and drove back to Seattle.
Overall, it was a very rewarding race. Not as crowded as many other,
some fairly challenging climbing and lots of stuff to look at. The
declines were fantastic. It was also nice that it was in the middle of
the week since it probably help keeping the number of cars down.
Strongly recommend signing up next year!
Last week, I finally rode RAMROD (course information). It was a great ride and the most fun one so far this summer. Below are some pictures I took with my iPhone (should have brought a camera!) and a short description of the race I wrote for some interested friends.
(Also, an Eatonville photo by Jon Brunk can be found here)
Drove down the evening before and had a good nights sleep before
starting at 5am. Little chilly the first couple of hours before the
sun got up and the incline started. First 60mi was just cruising with
a couple of quick stops. After that came the first climb to Paradise
which was great. The sun had come up and the weather was beautiful!
I took it real easy when climbing since it was my first time. Lots of
lowest gear and lots of beautiful scenery. It was a good workout but
still felt pretty strong when reaching the top. The decline from there
was the best part of the ride, very open and scenic, and very fast. It
wasn't very crowded at this point which was good. After that another
quick food stop, small climb up a ridge, down again and shortly after
got to the second climb. Didn't have as much energy this time and
there was some construction along the road. Kept biting of mile after
mile, but started cramping a little and had to stop for a stretch and
a cliffbar. This was the toughest part of the ride. Once I got back on
I turned a couple of corners and discovered that I had stopped less
than a mile from the top. The sharp decline from there was again
really fast and less curvy than the first decline. The fastest 8 miles
ever for me before the next food stop appeared with sandwiches and
soda. Everyone seemed to consider the race over when reaching the
second peak, and most people were just relaxing in the sun and
enjoying the food so I decided to take my time here and enjoy it. The
final 30 miles were a gradual decline with significant head-wind so I
joined forces with one guy early on and then picked up more and more
people until we were a pace line of about 15 people. This part was
pretty fun and fast, no need to save the energy anymore. The last few
miles we split up, half the gang going faster and half slower than I
wanted. I was feeling quite tired at this point so I started drafting
behind a man going just slightly faster than myself. He was
participant #2, and I couldn't help asking how he got such a low
number. Turns out they are assigned in declining age order. The guys
was 73, doing the race for the second time. At that point I felt
pretty bad about having him do all the hard work so I pulled him in
the last couple of miles. Finished ~4.40pm feeling pretty good so I
changed and drove back to Seattle.
Overall, it was a very rewarding race. Not as crowded as many other,
some fairly challenging climbing and lots of stuff to look at. The
declines were fantastic. It was also nice that it was in the middle of
the week since it probably help keeping the number of cars down.
Strongly recommend signing up next year!
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